My name is Adam, and I still play video games.
[Hello, Adam.]
See, the thing is, I’ve been playing video and computer games for a long time. A long time. (I played PacMan on an Atari 2600, just to give you the idea.) I don’t know if a 36-year-old man should still be playing video games. But I’ve gotten a lot of enjoyment out of them over the years.
Lately, though, I get more frustration out of games (both video and computer) than I do enjoyment. I never was that obsessed with “finishing” a game, like the hard-core players do, and lately it’s escalated to my trying a game, being entertained by the graphics etc. for a while, but soon getting so frustrated it’s not fun any more. I love the wacked-out sensibility of “Alice,” the cinematic atmosphere of “Max Payne,” the sense of speed in racing games like “Vanishing Point” on the Dreamcast. But when my old-man reflexes cause me to have to repeat the same area over and over just to advance, I start to want to turn on “old-man mode” so I can just wander around and explore, without dying every two minutes.
With all this amazing technology in games today, I think at least some designers should concentrate on open-ended worlds – sort of “holodeck”-style games. I know that’s supposedly the focus of online games like Dark Age of Camelot, but aside from the intimidation factor of jumping into the fray with lots of more experienced players, they seem still too focused on relentlessly moving up, slaying monsters and gaining powers. I just want to explore a detailed, alternate universe.
After all, old men deserve to have fun too.
I don’t know about an old man mode – I’ve always thought that about video games. The jump fast from platform to platform – the shot fast moves – I always found boring -because my slow reflexes meant I lost – repeatedly. But I’ve always liked game graphics and just wanted to putter around looking at things – but the game makers nevr let you do that. Annoying. Best game to putter around I ever found was Grim Fandango. All film noir style and mexican day of the day motifs – lucious.
I think this is a great idea. An absolutely great idea. Lets get a petition going. Maybe we can do it on the web… Then we can pepper game maker with emails telling them to go to the site so they can see how many people want this… Tell me if you’re going to do this now… If you aren’t maybe I will…